Kitty's Wish Sandwich?

You are right PastaChef!

The only animal that I cannot stand in my garden is cats! I have nothing against cats as a species, but they wreak havoc in my garden and cause destruction as I will explain.

Cats kill all the wild animals and birds that make my garden their home. I read in a recent report that in the United Kingdom, which is much smaller than the US, 40,000,000 wild animals and birds fall prey to domesticated cats every year! I do not understand why people leave their cats free to roam in other people's gardens. I don't leave my pet Scottie in other people's gardens. Three months ago, my wife and I were watching our favorite chipmunk eat out of a special feeder that we had built for him/her. Suddenly, my neighbor's cat came stealthily from the brush, lunged at the chipmunk, grabbed it in its mouth and ended the little guy's life right in front of us while were standing aghast from inside the house looking out at this scene through a closed window. It took me weeks to get over the shock! I had not realized how much that little creature whom we had come to know for months had actually meant to me!

When I complained to my neighbor about it, she responded by asking me if I had paid any money for the chipmunk! I answered her by sharing with her my feelings for "all creatures, great and small" as the book title was selected by its author James Herriot in Britain. I have great affection and respect for all living things and I understand the laws of nature, except for destruction of a life when it will not serve to feed an animal, but instead will be used as a toy.

It is my one desire that domesticated cats be restrained within the realm of the residence of their loved ones who selected them. Those of us who are their neighbors have established our realm which may contain animal or vegetable life that is incompatible with these cats. Maybe, someday ... .

Papa,

We feed the chipmunks in our yard, too

We sprinkle a mixture of bird seed, corn, and peanuts on the patio, and that's usually where the chipmunks come to eat (they also eat under our birdfeeder and climb up nearby trees & hop onto the birdfeeder to eat). This spring we had two babies who looked liked twins...they both had white spots on their foreheads! But we only saw them a few times, and now we only see an older chipmunk. I always worry when the babies "disappear," because one year we saw what looked like a hawk of some sort grabbing a chipmunk off of our bird feeder and then flying away with it...

Our most recent heartbreaking incident was finding a baby chipmunk in a shoe in our garage whose back legs were paralyzed. We kept him for a few days, hoping we could keep him as a pet (since his chances in the wild were slim), but he died a few days later

We've also had rabbits feeding under our birdfeeder...I'm not too happy when they nibble off flowers in the yard, but I love them anyway. I love to see the babies eating on our patio.

And recent "visitors" have been a couple of mallard ducks (male & female) feeding under our birdfeeder this year. It's fun to watch the interaction of all of the "creatures"! The rabbits were chasing around in circles one night, around the ducks...they just stood and watched the charade

I wish I had a camera or video camera ready at all times to capture these great moments!

It's so nice to find others who love animals as I do

p.s. We have a few cats also, but they are indoor cats. I've known of too many heartbreaking stories of cats being run over by cars or lost, at least where I live.

Papa makes a good point and I wish everyone would consider it?! As a pet owner of 4 cats I couldn't dream of letting my cats roam free. The possiblity of them getting hurt or worse would leave too much guilt in my heart because I know better. I have one outdoor cat that walks quite nicely outside on a leash where I can control his attempts at bad behavior as well as nibbling on so many plants that he becomes sick inside latter.

I also take care of a whole feral cat colony at my work. I'm not sure how they started, if people dumped strays there or if they just wondered in on their own. But there's about 6 main adult cats who have litters everytime they go into heat. Rarely does a new kitten survive to adulthood. Although we have one cat that can be traced back through 10 years of survival the average life expectance is less then 3 years for a disposed of cat. I call her "Moma" (since she had sooo many litters over 10 years) and I finally trapped and neutered her last year...it was quite a challenge, very expensive and a major challenge just to find a vet who would work on a feral.

Please never let an un-neutered animal free to roam!!!!!!!!!! It's a sad hard life people condem these homeless animals to and many kind hearted pet owners don't realize that they are adding to the problem everytime they let their cat run free.

Tips on keeping pesties out of your bird feeders and garden -

Keeping squirrels off the feeders that hang from poles in the ground; grease the pole!!! use Vaseline - it lasts through several rains - get a beer, sit on the porch and watch the fun!! The antics of the little critters as they slide down the greased pole is too much!!

And then there's mixing cayenne into your bird feed - lots of it! Birds don't have taste buds, so it doesn't bother them, but the squirrels hate it!

Keeping critters out of the garden; we live in deer central, so when we first tilled our garden we put up a six foot fence; the first year, we noted it kept the deer out, but smaller critters were climbing through the holes. Soooo we reinforced the fencing about three feet up with chicken wire; kept the small critters out, but one day surprised a ground hog CLIMBING over the six foot fence! They're so fat, I didn't know they could climb like that!!

Went to the local Agway (farmer's supply store), and of course the guy's first answer was 'get a shotgun and sit in the garden'. Well. Then he told me about 'predator urine'. Yep, I'm not kidding!!!! They sell different kinds for different pests - from fox peepee all the way up to cougar!!!!We got the coyote on the Agway guy's recommendation. Comes in a little bottle, with plasitc tubes with holes punched in them, and cotton balls. You squirt some of the - concentrate - on the cotton balls in the tubes, and place them strategically around the circumference of the garden. WORKS LIKE A CHARM!!!!!! Our only concern is whether or not we'll get real coyotes investigating!!!

Marlamady, what you said about the predator urine- amazing! But it is true. The prey won't want to wander anywhere where they smell those "markings". Actually, I imagine the same would probably be true with human urine (most critters tend to keep away from us) but then for most people there's the "gross" factor. (As in "yeah, I'll use cougar pee, but heck no, I ain't peein' in my own garden!!") LOL.

I understand your point about cats outdoors even in the country, but for me, I will need mousers and hunters. They will need to have access to the yard, the barn, and etc. in order to catch their next meal (and so earn their keep!) There are definite indoor cats who wouldn't do well outside, but I have found (from personal experience only) that those cats tend to not want to be outside anyways. The "outdoor" cats do well if they've been raised that way, as opposed to simply letting your house-cat run around outside whenever.

Perhaps it sounds uncaring, but for me it's like the difference between a lap-dog and a work dog. You wouldn't let your lap-dog run around in the country unfettered (not if you're responsible!), and in fact would probably keep it inside most of the time, because it's a pet, meant only for companionship. But if you have sheep or cattle, and have a herding dog, well, that dog, while it may be a companion, is also a working partner, and needs some leeway in where he can and can't go, or else he can't get his job done. Same with the cats. Mousers, and housecats. It doesn't mean that I don't take good care of all the animals- they simply serve different purposes.

Am I making any sense?